You don't need to look at the scoreboard to see which team won a volleyball match. All you need to see is the attack percentage. Win that battle and the match is yours.
Penn demonstrated that over the weekend, winning the percentage battle and thus taking the match two out of three times.
The Quakers beat Temple for the first time in over a decade behind a .275 attack percentage (kills minus errors). That number separates this year's Penn squad from the ones that have lost to the Owls in years past.
"If you're playing well and winning you're converting at least .250," coach Kerry Carr said. "That's something I didn't see all last year."
That team number was buoyed by great play from junior middle blocker Kathryn Turner. Turner led the team with 16 kills and a percentage of .387.
"She gets less sets than the outsides because it has to be a perfect pass to go to a middle," Carr said. "But when she gets it she doesn't make many mistakes."
Turner continued her strong performance Saturday, where she again recorded 16 kills with a .353 percentage. But as a team, the Quakers managed a .202 percentage, far behind the .250 goal and Albany's .261.
Penn's open offense was on display as freshman Julia Swanson lead the Quakers with 18 kills against the Great Danes. But she also led the team with seven errors, a sign that the newbie still has plenty of room to grow within Carr's system.
"It's something you just have to figure out," Turner said. "A big key is learning to keep the ball alive in a place where you would have had an error before."
Senior captain Anna Shlimak recorded a negative percentage in the first match and a .067 in the second.
Shlimak, who has been moving between right and left outside hitter "needs to realize no matter what position she is in, she can kill the ball," Carr said. "Obviously it's something I was disappointed in but I don't expect it to stay that way for long."
Shlimak did come back with five kills in seven attacks in the final win over Quinnipiac. The team recorded an astounding .359 percentage in the quick victory. Just like you would expect them to.
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